Eastlake man pleads to knifepoint gas station robbery

An Eastlake man has admitted stealing a car and then robbing a Wickliffe gas station at knifepoint.
Joseph Pietropaolo 33, walked into the Speedway at Lloyd Road and Euclid Avenue at 7:18 a.m. Jan. 21, 2013, wearing a mask.
He then threatened two female clerks with an eight-inch knife and stole money from the cash register.
Pietropaolo fled the scene in a 1992 Chevrolet Blazer he had stolen earlier that day from a different Speedway in Willowick, prosecuting attorney Laurence Giegerich said.
On Friday, Pietropaolo pleaded guilty as charged in Lake County Common Pleas Court to three counts of aggravated robbery with repeat violent offender specifications, safecracking, aggravated burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.
He now faces between three and 35 years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 14 by Judge Vincent A. Culotta.
The prosecutor and defense attorney Richard J. Perez have jointly recommended Pietropaolo receive 12 years.
Pietropaolo has a prior armed robbery conviction from 2006 in Massachusetts.
During the Wickliffe robbery, one of the clerks was injured while trying to run from Pietropaolo.
“She tried to flee in the back, and she fell and broke her arm,” said the prosecutor.
Police said Pietropaolo told the clerk he was robbing the station because he had a drug problem. Police arrested him in East Cleveland that afternoon after a chase and a struggle with officers.
A 31-year-old East Cleveland resident was also in the SUV but was not charged.
Pietropaolo has been in jail since that incident unable to post bond. Culotta has now revoked his bond.